


Things weren't supposed to go this way

by gaylie



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Highschool AU, Human AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-18 09:57:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 12,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4701827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaylie/pseuds/gaylie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Humor, romance, drama, I guess you could call this a typical highschool AU fanfiction. I'm not the best at writing so characters might be kinda OOC. It is filled with AU Headcanons, cutesy stuff and death and despair. What more would you want? Oh and there might be badly written smut for you naughty teenagers out there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

"Honey, take your brother with you.", Eloha said as Sugar went to leave the house.

"Ech, but mooom!", the teen moaned, "He's embarrassing me to my friends!"

"That's not a nice thing to say about your brother.", her mother answered angry.  
"It's not my fault he's a fucking nerd, mom!", Sugar snapped back. Furiously Eloha crossed her arms as she answered.

"We do not use such language in our household! Now take your brother with you or don't go at all!"

"Agh whatever mom.", Sugar snapped as she walked away with her brother following her awkwardly.

Waiting on the street with his sister, Zacharie watched the wanna-be biker gang coming on their bicycles. On their lead was Dedan, together with his best friend Japhet. Four others were following them and on the end there was Valerie following in his tricycle with his helmet and knee protectors on. "Wait for me, guys!", he shouted after them.

"What the FUCK are you wearing!?", Dedan yelled back at him and the whole gang started laughing.

"M-My brother says it's safe-" - "Take that fucking shit off or get lost.", he interrupted Valerie.

"Hehe yea!", Japhet agreed with Dedan, "G-Get lost or Dedan w-will get very angry!"

"Hey babe~", Sugar interrupted them coming up to her boyfriend Dedan.

"Why the fuckshit did you bring him?", Dedan said pointing at her Zacharie.

"It's my boring ass brother.", Sugar said rolling her eyes, "My mother forced me to bring him but don't worry I'll get rid of him." She turned around to her brother and said: "You get the fuck lost. Stay away from me and don't fucking tell mom you snitch."

"B-But what if I'll get hurt!?", Zacharie exclaimed, "I'll get hurt and run away and you'll be in trouble!"

"Oh my god, whatever!", his sister snapped and hopped on Dedans bicycle before they drove off again. "Later nerd."

'Great way to begin my weekend.', Zacharie thought sarcastically and angrily buried his face in his turtleneck as he would always do when upset.


	2. 2

Monday came and with that school began again. Pissed and tired Zacharie walked along his schoolway. He hated school. Not even because of the stress but because he had no friends but always got picked on and bullied. Today wasn't any better either.

"Whatcha staring at, nerd!?", Dedan yelled as he appeared before him in the break.

"A-Actually at my book...", Zacharie whined, but his mask covered up his eyes pretty well and therefore others couldn't see what direction he'd be looking at. He knew Dedan would just take that as an excuse to pick on him.

"A-A-Any trouble?", Japhet asked Dedan as he came up with the rest of the gang. "Oh it's just that f-freak!", he said and laughed.

Zacharie didn't know what to do. He buried his face in his turtleneck which the bullies saw as another reason to pick on him. As all of the bullies laughed and surrounded him one of them put his arm on Zacharies shoulder.   
"Why aren't you laughing, mate?", he asked giving Zacharie a strong, more punch-like pat on the back that knocked him to the ground. Roughly he landed face-first. Tears slowly started to fill his eyes but he didn't say anything. He just kept lying on the ground, too scared to even make a noise. Their laughter filled his ears and he felt their strong kicks on his body.

Suddenly though their laughter stopped and so did their kicks. Confused Zacharie hieved up his head and what he was seeing first were two legs in white pants. None of Dedan or the other bullies.

"What are you guys doing with him?", a strong serious voice asked.

"It's none of your FUCKING buissness, Batter!", Dedan yelled back at him aggresively but the Batter didn't even twitch.

"It's not very nice to beat up the innocent.", he said, "It's very unpure." In his strong arms he threatingly held a baseball bat up. Surprised the bullies took a step back but before he could properply realize what was going on Dedan felt the strong punch of the bat on his head and knocked out. Most of the bullies ran away scared, a few of them, like Japhet, stayed to get Dedan and tag him along. Exhausted but relieved Zacharie got up and stroke some dirt off his clothes.  
"Th-Thanks...", Zacharie muttered.

"Don't thank me.", the Batter replied, "It's nothing."

"No really, noone ever helped me before!", Zacharie said excited but the Batter still didnt seem any more impressed.

"...My name is Zachar-" - "Listen, it's nothing, ok? Please don't read more into it than it actually is.", the Batter interrupted Zacharie.

"But-" - "No, really, I just did what was right."

Flustered Zacharie didn't know what to say.  
"S-Still", he began, "Thank you..."


	3. 3

A strange man he was, the Batter. For the last few days Zacharie watched him, stalked him one could even say. He didn't know why but the Batter really cought his interest. He never spent times with others. In the breaks he was always either alone, talking to himself or punching with his bat around him, or he messed with the bullies which started to avoid him at any cost.

After school the Batter always went to baseball training. Zacharie watched him secretly through the fence. It happened to become his favourite activity.

Today he did the same. Without a second thought Zacharie hid inside a bush behind the fence around the school sports field. He watched the Batter training his powerfull swings. With grace he hit the coming ball with his bat and sent it straight back. Time flew by so fast. Zacharie could never tell how long he was actually watching him. An hour? Two? Did it even matter?

He watched the Batter bringing the ball away and leave the field in the end. Surprised Zacharie started to panick as the Batter took off his normal course and headed to Zacharie instead. Keeping his mouth shut he hoped for the Batter to not find him behind the bush. Sadly Zacharie wasnt the best at hiding. Trying to keep still and quiet he suddenly start to twitch a little. It was only a tiny movement with his hand but it made the bush shake and surprised the Batter turned around.

"Who's there?", he asked firmly. Ungraceful Zacharie fell out of the bush and stood up before the Batter.

"Oh.", the Batter said, "It's ... you."

"Zacharie.", the masked man said and awkwardly stroked some leaves off his clothes, "My name... it's Zacharie."

"What are you doing here?", the Batter asked Zacharie. The question didn't surprise Zacharie at all but he still was flustered about it.  
"I-I was not stalking you!", he laughed awkwardly.

"Really?", the baseball playing man asked suspecting.

"I was just... uhm... passing... by?", Zacharie stuttered.

"You came out of a bush.", the Batter replied in disbelieve.

"Y-Y-Yes I-I was just-" - "Don't fool with me. What are you doing here? Are you spying on me?", the strong man interrupted him inpatiently.

Shocked Zacharie didn't know what to say. Awkwardly he opened his mouth, unable to form words.

"Answer me, or you'll be in trouble.", the Batter continued, holding his trusty bat up threatingly.

"I-I wasn't!", Zacharie burted out in panick, "I'm sorry! I was just- I-"

"You were watching me a lot lately, weren't you?"

Embarrased Zacharie nodded as answer.

"How did you tell?", he asked a little scared.

"Guessed.", the Battter answered. He calmed down already but he still didn't quite trust Zacharie.

"Why?", he asked him.

"I-I don't know myself...", Zacharie muttered, "I feel safe around you I suppose... Dedan and the others are avoiding you, so if I'm close to you then I'm quite safe..."

Yes that sounded right. Zacharie never really thought about his newfound obsession for the Batter but that really sounded like it had to be the reason.

"The why are you hiding?", the Batter asked firmly. This time his question surprised Zacharie.

"I-I couldn't just follow you all the time, like a dog!?", he exclaimed.

"Why not?", the batter replied shrugging, "As long as you don't try to do some kind of bonding shit and build a friendship I don't care."


	4. 4

The next few weeks were great. Gladfully Zacharie took the Batters offer and started to hang around him. Despite to what the Batter told him though he ofcourse tried to hold conversations with him. With the Batter being not the most talkactive person he had quite a hard time with that but Zacharie did not mind much. He just kept trying and talking.   
Today was no different. He cought up with the Batter on his schoolway.

"Hi!", Zacharie said cheerfully, "How're you?" As so often the Batter did not answer at all. "Aw man don't be like that, I know you can hear me.", Zacharie continued.

"I'm not interested in your smalltalk.", the Batter answered firm.

"I see.", Zacharie sighed a little dissapointed. Silently they walked along the schoolway next to each other. "So... what you're gonna do after school?", Zacharie asked a little awkward to stop the quiet. "Baseball training."

"I'm aware of that.", Zacharie laughed, "But after that?"  
"That's none of your buissness."  
"Aw come on, how bad can it be? Are you like some kind of illegal drug dealer?" To Zacharies surprise the Batter just said... nothing. "Oh my god!?", Zacharie almost screamed, "You're dealing with drugs!?"

"No I'm not, Jesus Christ.", the Batter hissed stressed, "I'm doing nothing, ok!? I go home and I stay home and that's all I want to do."

Zacharie sighed in relief. He was not hanging out with a drug dealer.

"We should do something after school.", he said after he got his thoughts back together.

"Are you even listening?", the Batter answered angrily, "I don't want to do anything else."  
"You're boring.", Zacharie sighed.

"I don't care.", the Batter answered straightly, "I allowed you to follor me to avoid the bullies and not start getting best buddies with me."

Zacharie just shrugged. Quietly they continued their schoolway for a little while.

"Ech I don't want to go to class...", Zacharie sighed eventually as they almost arrived at school.

"Then don't.", Batter answered short.

"Hahaha yea right.", Zacharie laughed awkwardly, "I can't just skip class."   
"Why not?", the Batter said shrugging, "I do that often enough."

Speechless Zacharie stared at his capped friend. He didnt expect him to be the kind of guy skipping class. Thenagain he also couldn't imagine him being in and learning for class.

"Do you never get in trouble?", Zacharie asked a little curious. The Batter just laughed.

"As if the teachers would care."  
"Ah I guess that's true.", Zacharie said awkwadly, "I- I still don't think I should just skip class."  
"Whatever.", the Batter replied as he entered the school building. Without any kinds of goodbye the Batter left to attent his class. So did Zacharie. Technically though he could've aswell just skipped it. His mind was anywhere but in the school subject. With a tired gaze the masked boy stared out of the window his his hand supporting his head. He thought about the Batter. He seemed to always end up thinking about him.

'Now I'm even starting to hallucinate.', Zacharie thought as he started to see him outside the schoolbuilding through the window. Surprised he looked up realizing, that he did in fact not hallucinate. Curious he watched the Batter walking back and forth outside. He seemed troubled, bothered, a little scared even. Zacharie saw him movin his lips as if he was talking to himself. Worry grew inside of Zacharie. He wanted to just leave class and go to the Batter, trying to help him with whatever was bothering ghe man. Deeply in his thoughts Zacharie started drumming with his fingers on the table. Annoyed the teacher stared at Zacharie but he did not notice at all.

"Zacharie.", the teacher said, "Zacharie you are distracting your classmates and disturbing class." Surprised and confused Zacharie looked up as he realized the teacher was talking to him.   
"Uhm...", he stumbled, "I'm sorry but what did you say?"

Angrily the teacher sighed.

"Zacharie if you're not going to take part in class you can as well just leave." Surprised Zacharie stared at his teacher in disbelief. He never got sent out of class. Not once.

"You heard me.", the teacher continued pointing at the door. Quietly Zacharie took his school bag and walked out. As he closed the classroom door behind he he realized, that this was just perfect though. He wanted to leave anyways so now he had the chance to. Quickly he ran outside to the playgound where he had watched the Batter before. To Zacharies relief he was still there, sitting on a bench, his head resting on his arms. He looked up as he heard Zacharie coming.

"Class' not over yet.", the capped man pointed out.

"I know.", Zacharie answered short and sat down next to the Batter,

"Good boy.", Batter said, almost laughed even, and leaned back. A smile slipped Zacharie, hidden behind his toad mask.

"Why are you here though?", the Batter asked after a little while of complete quiet.

"I-I saw you.", Zacharie began, "You seemed troubled, I-"

"You skipped class for me?", the Batter sounded surprised.

"Well technically I'm not skipping class but, uhm, yea." Awkwardly Zacharie tapped with his feet on the ground. A little baffled the bigger male stared at the mask wearing boy.

"I didn't think you actually would.", he murmured after some seconds.   
"I kind of was... worried.", Zacharie stuttered awkwardly, "I-I don't know, I just saw you and you looked so terrified... May, uhm.... May I ask what you were doing before?"

The Batter did not answer. Instead he just set his baseball cap right and stared into the distance. Zacharie was not sre if he didn't hear him or was ignoring him on purpose.

"B-Batter?"

"It's none of your buissness."

The sudden answer starled Zacharie a little, but he nodded and leaned back on the bench.

"I'm sorry.", Zacharie said. He heard the Batter sighing stressed before he answered.  
"It's not your fault.", he said in a surprisingly soft voice. "I really just dont wanna talk about this."

They kept sitting on the bench for quite a while. Not saying a word. Just sitting there. The bell rang, annoincing that the first class was over and the second one about to begin. But Zacharie didn't bother going to class right now. He wouldn't be able to concentrade anyway. Also he enjoyed it, just sitting there. Next to the Batter.

"What's with the mask anyways?", the Batter asked suddenly, breaking the quiet.

"Ah.", Zacharie began in surprise. He wasn't sure what to answer. Ofcourse he got this question a lot, from bullies mainly, but he always avoided an answer. But he didn't feel like lying to the Batter.

"I suppose I kind of use it to avoid... eye contact.. and that stuff.", he answered nervously, "To feel a little safer and... hidden. It's stupid but it helped a bit and kind of got a habit."

Awkwardly he stared at the Batter awaiting an answer or any kind of reaction really. He was scared he would call him weird or a pansy.

"That's kind of fucking sad man.", was his only reaction. But Zacharie was reliefed, he sighed.

"I guess.", he said staring into the sky.

"No really though", the Batter continued, "I think you should just take it off."

"W-What!?"

"You should be more open to others and not just hide. I'm pretty sure you would also make a lot more friends without that stupid mask on."

Knowing that the Batter was propably right it was still hard for Zacharie to even only think about putting his mask off.  
"Fine...", he whipered, swallowing a bit in fear. He reached with his hands to his toad mask that was covering his face and softly took it off. Awkwardly he looked down, trying not to look at the Batter who was able to see Zacharies real face for the first time.

"See? Not that bad, is it?"

Zacharie nodded a little, his gaze still focused on the floor.

"Aw man", the Batter sighed placing one hand on Zacharies head patting him a little.


	5. 5

Zacharie could hear footsteps of the first approching students a second before the bell announcing break rang. Hundrets of kids stormed out of the schoolbuilding, most of them walking past the Batter and Zacharie. Some noticed that Zacharie did not wear the mask. They stopped and looked him but Zacharie didn't really notice, not until one of them started laughing at them.   
"Ooooh!", he started mocking them, "Did ya finally make ya boyfriend take his stupid mask off?" Aggresively the Batter formed his hands into fists as he tried to ignore the guy. "Did ya make out and kiss n' stuff?"  
"What the fuck actually is your damage!?", the Batter growled, standing up abruptly and grabbing his bat. Zacharie followed him with his eyes, noticing that it was not just that one guy, but in fact a whole group of students gathering around them now. Awkwardly Zacharie tried to cover his face as he started to feel watched. Quickly he took the mask and put it back on. 'Just for now...', Zacharie thought to himself.  
"Oh no", the bully continued in a utterly sarcastic tone, "did I anger his knight and hero?"   
"Oh fuck yea you did", Batter answered in an intimiating serious voice as he held up his bat threatingly.  
"Ah- haha bro calm down man-", the other guy started to stutter as soon as he realized that the Batter was serious, "I was just kidding man, just kidding, ya know?"  
"Well your humor does not amuse me." Without hestitating the Batter swung his bat at the bully, not just knocking him out but also sending him to the ground bleeding. In Shock Zacharie gasped and it almost sounded like everyone else did too. Before anyone could say anything a teacher pushed himself through the crowd.   
"What's going on here!?", he said but he didn't need an answer. Shocked he held a breath staring at the beaten up boy. Then he looked up to the Batter holding his bat in both arms.   
"Oh this time you got yourself in real trouble, my friend, this time you really messed up! And don't even try to find an excuse!", the teacher said before the Batter even had a chance to reply, "You come with me, I'm sure the headmaster would like to hear about that!" Without any complain the Batter followed his teacher into the schoolbuilding. Zacharie watched some of the students picking up the bleeding boy and carrying him to the nurses office. Shocked Zacharie stared after them. He couldn't believe what just had happened. The break ended after some minutes, which felt to Zacharie like hours. He spent the rest of the schoolday alone. The Batter did not show up in the second break so Zacharie assumed he got sent home. Slowly Zacharie walked outside the schoolbuilding as the last class was over. Sighing he took the shoulder straps of his bag in his hands. His thoughts were absent, nowhere really. He was still in shock, but mainly sad and worried. He didn't notice anything or anyone around him, not until he felt someone grabbing his shoulder. For a moment Zacharie panicked. He expected a bully to be standing behind him, about to push him to the ground. But as he turned around he saw that it was not a bully standing behind him, leaning against the wall, but the Batter.   
"Batter!", Zacharie cheered in relief, "Oh god, what happened? What did the headmaster say?"  
"Ech, I'm suspendet.", Batter groaned stressed. He clearly did not want to talk about this. But Zacharie didn't care, this wasn't a thema to just push under the carpet.   
"That's horrible.", he said, "For how long?"  
"A week."  
Zacharie sighed. He couldn't imagine what it felt like getting suspendet. Hell, he never even got sent out of class before until today.   
"Let's just not talk about this anymore.", the Batter said, starting to walk ahead and gave Zacharie a little push to follor him. The Batter lived only a few blocks farther than Zacharie so they had the same way home.  
"You're wearing your mask again.", Batter pointed out after a little while. He sounded kind of dissapointed.  
"Yea I- I'm sorry... there were so many people and-"  
"Haha, oh man, it's fine!", the Batter laughed and gave Zacharie some strong pats on the back that almost pushed him over. "I kind of overreacted and that propably was... some kind of shock for you. I'm sorry."  
Zacharie sighed and smiled. He was happy that the Batter wasn't angry at him and even more, that he apologized for something like that.  
"It'd kind of be a shame though, hiding a face as cute as yours."   
"W-What!?", Zacharie asked surprised by the unexpected compliment.  
"Haha, sorry man, I'm messing with you."   
A little angry Zacharie pushed the Batter softly.   
"You're mean, you know that?", he said, trying to sound serious and not to laugh aswell. The Batter nodded quickly.  
"I know, I'm sorry!", he said as he stopped laughing, "But really, you shouldn't feel like you need to hide yourself or anything."  
"I-I guess you're right." Zacharie smiled happily. He never felt as safe before as he did right now with the Batter. Cheery he leaned on the Batter and wrapped his arms around one of the other mans arms, which made the Batter try to shake him off a little in surprise.  
"What the fuck?", he said a little embarrased, "No, stop that!"   
"Aw, come on!", Zacharie whined and quickly took his mask off with one arm. He looked up at the Batter with his big hazel brown eyes and leaned closer on him. "Please, only this time!"  
Awkwardly the Batter turned his head away, but Zacharie could see his face blushing slightly which made Zacharie smirk in delight.  
"Fine.", he grunted, "But only today and I swear to god, this means completely nothing."   
Smiling Zacharie nodded. They didn't talk a lot more on their way home, but Zacharie did not mind at all. He was happy, he was with Batter and that was all that mattered right now.


	6. Chapter 6

Fast asleep Zacharie was lying in his bed early the next morning. He didn't hear the doorbell ringing or the footsteps coming up the stairs to his room. Only as his mother barged in he slowly woke up.

"Zach, honey, your boyfriend's waiting outside for you!", she said and left as quick as she came.

"What.... mom....?", he mumbled tired, slowly waking up. "W-What? I don't have a boyfriend, mom!", he yelled as he finally realized what she just had said. "What the fuck, mom!?" Yelling he ran to his door and stared downstairs where his mother went. "I'm _not_ gay!"

Quickly he took on his clothes and mask. He ran downstairs, grabbing his bag, and stopped abruptly as he remembered he wanted to stop wearing that mask. Quickly he took it off and stuffed it into his bag. He walked the last steps down and opened the door to see the Batter waiting there for him. Before he could greet him or say anything at all, Zacharie turned back around and yelled at his mother once more. "Mom! He's _not_ my boyfriend!"

"W-What!?", Batter added surprised and confused, "I'm not your boyfriend! _I'm not his boyfriend!_ " The last comment was meant for Zacharies mom, which the Batter figured that Zacharie had yelled to. Embarrased Zacharie hid his face in his hands and closed the door behind him.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry.". He whined through his hands.

"Ah, wow, it's – uhm – okay man.", the Batter replied still a little confused, "Everyone has embarrasing parents, I guess."

Nodding Zacharie took his hands off his face and started walking towards school.

"Why are you here anyways?", he asked remembering that the Batter got suspended the day before. The Batter just shrugged.  
"I figured I could walk with you. Don't have anything to do anyways."  
"That's nice!" Zacharie smiled at the Batter who, once again, just shrugged. "What did your parents say? To the whole suspension thing I mean."

"Nothing.", the Batter sounded firm, "I live alone."  
"Oh.", Zacharie replied a little worried that he might have opened a wound but the Batter didn't really seem to be upset. Neverthless he decided to not go more into this subject.

After a little while they arrived at the schoolbuilding and stopped.

"Wow it feels weird standing before school and knowing I don't have to- no – I'm not _allowed_ to enter.", the Batter said a little baffled.

"I can imagine...", Zacharie said a little lost in thoughts, "Maybe I should just skip, like the whole day."  
"What? No!", the Batter sounded surprised to hear that from someone like Zacharie.

"But why not? You said you do it all the time!"

"Yea but I'm not any good in school, so it doesn't even matter. You are, your teachers like you, you can make it to something in life. My teacher just lost all hope in me and they have all reason to."  
Surprised Zacharie stared at his friends. He never really thought about that, about any consequences.

"B-But what if the bullies-"

"You'll survive it somehow.", Batter sighed, "Really, you can't just skip a whole day, let alone a week if that was what you were planning!"

Sighing Zacharie nodded. "Fine...", he mumbled a little disappointed but mostly overwhelmed about how much Batter seemed to suddenly care. "I'll see you later then!", Zacharie said in a more cheery voice again, forgetting for a moment, that he would not see him in break today. He turned around walking into the school building and sighed. He tried to smile, or at least to look neutral in a way, but as soon as he realized the stares of the students that had never seen him without mask before, he started to feel incredibly uncomfortable, stared to the ground and tried to avoid any eye contact, telling himself, that they are not staring at him. The two first classes went ok. Despite of some teachers unecessarily pointing out that he wasn't wearing his mask, he actually managed to concentrate on class. In break however he wasn't as lucky. He didn't know exactly what to do. Should he try to hide or something like that or not? Eventually he decided to just sit down on a bench to eat his bread. But ofcourse, how else should it be, it didn't take long for Dedan and his so called friends to show up.

"Feeling fucking brave today, kiddo?", the lead-bully Dedan laughed at him in his natural yelling voice. Zacharie looked away awkwardly, hoping for the bullies to leave if he'd just ignore them.

"Where's your bodyguard?", he heard another bully laugh.

"Don't just fucking ignore us!", Dedan continued and roughly grabbed Zacharies shoulder as he still didn't answer. He widened his eyes in shock as fear started to grow inside of him.

"G-Gee Dedan, I think y-you just made that pansy cry!", Japhet said laughing and shocked Zacharie had to realize that tears were running down his cheeks. And this time there was no mask that could hide them. "N-No..", he whispered to himself as the bullies fell into a loud laughter and Dedan roughly pushed Zacharie onto the back of the bench. He tried to hide his face in his hands, covering his eyes and burying his fingers into his messy black hair. Desperately he told himself that this is all a dream, that if he would open his eyes he would wake up in his safe bed at home. But before he could even open them, he heard a voice stopping the laughter.

"What's going on?", it was a teacher, none that Zacharie knew.

"No-no-nothing special, miss!", Japhet tried to assure the teacher after Dedan didn't even give her any attention. Doubting that what the blonde haired boy said was true she let her eyes wander over to Zacharie who was watching them through the slits between his fingers which were still covering his eyes.

"You okay, boy?", she asked him but Zacharie didn't dare to answer. He was scared that he would get in even more trouble with his bullies if he would snitch them now, but at the same time he didn't want the teacher to think he was ok so instead he just kept quiet. Luckily the teacher understood. She took both Dedan and Japhet by their arms and pulled them with her.

"That's it.", she said, "You're coming with me."  
"What the goddamn fuck!? You can't just-"

"Oh I can! I could only because of that comment already!", she stopped Dedan and more did Zacharie not head. He stood up, leaving as fast as he could and hid in a hidden corner behind the schoolbuilding. After making sure that nobody had followed him he sank down to the ground, burying his face in his hands, and silently started sobbing. He was so happy around the Batter. So safe. Why did he have to be alone again? Why?

'It's only for a week.', he tried to tell himself.


	7. 7

Slowly he stood up, dried a few tears with the back of his hand and padded into the schoolbuilding as he heard the bell ring. The rest of the day went pretty ok. He didn't see Dedan or any of the bullies in the second break so he supposed they must've gotten into quite some trouble. 'Suits them just right.', Zacharie silently thought to himself. The last to lessons went by too and in no time he was heading on his way back home. He stopped outside the schoolbuilding and looked around with the faint hope to see the Batter somewhere standing. To his surprise his hopes weren't let down. He saw him leaning against the wall of a building across the street. Excited he ran over to him.

"Why are you here?", he asked smiling, not thinking there would be any need for a greet.

"Ah I was around and... thought I could wait for you. Anyways, how was school?"

"It was okay.", Zacharie sighed, "So-some of the bullies picked on me today but-"

"Jesus Christ, those fucking assholes, what is even their fucking problem? Like why do they think it is necessary for them to make your life to hell!?", he sounded so angry, almost as angry when that one guy called them gay. "Did they- They didn't hurt you, did they?"  
"I'm fine, don't worry!", Zacharie said, trying to sound cheery to calm the Batter down a bit, "A teacher came and stopped them before anything really happened.  
"At least!", the Batter sighed and started walking along the way home. Quickly Zacharie followed him quietly.

"You know", he began after a little while, "You could come over today maybe. We could like watch TV or so, I don't know, just hang out, you know?"

"With your mom who thought we were dating?"  
"O-Oh right!", Zacharie stumbled remembering the incident from earlier. He felt heat rushing to his head.

“Man I'm just messing with you.”, Batter laughed, “It's fine. I'd love to hang.”

“Great!”, Zacharie cheered excitedly. Quickly without thinking about it he grabbed Batters hand and excitedly dashed some steps forward until the Batter stopped him, shaking Zacharies hand off his.  
“D-Dude!”, the Batter said in a bit shaky voice, “What the fuck?”

Zacharie felt blood rushing to his head as he realized how embarrassing his actions just had been.

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry!”, he wailed, “I was just so excited that you said yes and-”  
“I said yes to hang out, not to marry you!”

“I know! Oh my god, I'm so sorry!”

“Wow”, Batter sighed, “Let's just forget this and act like it never happened.”  
“Y-Yes please!”, Zacharie replied quickly, “Just forget that! Forever please.”

Awkwardly they continued walking, neither of them daring to say a word. Not until Zacharie stopped in front of his door.

“Do you still want to come in?”, he asked the Batter a little unsure. The Batter just shrugged a little absend. “Sure why not.”

With a surpressed sigh of relief he opened the door with his key. “Mom, I'm home!”, he shouted, “I brought a friend!” He gestured the Batter to come in and closed the door behind him. Quickly Zacharie threw his schoolbag on the ground next to some pairs of shoes and walked towards the kitchen with the Batter following him. As expected his mother was standing in the big kitchen that also worked as a dining room with a table in the middle.

“I'm home.”, Zacharie repeated, this time not shouting.  
“Welcome, hun.”, his mother said in a soft voice, “I heard you brought your friend?”

Zacharie nodded. “That's the Ba-”  
“Oh it's your handsome boyfriend from this morning!”, she interrupted his son.  
“ _Mom!_ ”

“I'm sorry honey, I'm just messing with you. Anyways, what's your name, darling?”  
“I am the Batter.”, the Batter answered in a firm voice, “And I'm sorry to disappoint you, miss, but I am not your sons boyfriend.”  
“Haha, ofcourse not, darling!”, Zacharies mother giggled, “Not yet! Those things need time.”

“Mom!?”, Zacharie wailed at her in disbelief.

“I'm sorry honey.”, she giggled and turned around to get some plates. “I made lasagna, do you two want some?” Without waiting for a reply she put the food on the plates and handed it to them.

“Uhm, thanks.”, the Batter answered a little surprised.  
“We'll be in my room!”, Zacharie said about to dash towards his room if not his mom would have stopped him before.

“Why don't you two eat here with me? I'd like to get your friend a bit known.” A bit embarrassed Zacharie started to stumble some meaningless vocals until he managed to find a good excuse.

“Mom, Sugar's coming home soon and you know how she is towards, well, _everyone_.”, he said, now actually fearing that Sugar would end up meeting Batter. This was truly not a scenario he liked to imagine.

“I guess you're right about that...”, his mother answered with a little sigh. As soon as she did Zacharie took the Batter by his wrist and literally pulled him up the stairs until they arrived in Zacharies room and settled down on his small couch.

“Who's Sugar?”, the Batter asked now, slowly starting to eat the lasagna that Zacharies mom gave him.

“She's my sister, she's... not someone you would like to meet. Or who _anyone_ would like to meet.”, the other boy replied and got a simple “Oh.” back. “So do you wanna watch TV or so?”

The Batter shook his head unable to answer in words since how mouth was filled with food. Quickly he swallowed it. “I wanna ask you a thing, uhm.”, he began, “Are you actually gay? I-I've been just wondering since your mom thinks that-”

“N-No! I'm not!”, Zacharie almost shouted back blushing in embarrassment. He didn't know either why his mom seemed to think that. Sure he never had a girlfriend before, or liked a girl that way, but that doesn't already mean he's gay, does it? Quickly the Batter gave him a nod.  
“Ok sorry for asking.”  
“It's fine.”, Zacharie replied still a little baffled. He meant to ask the Batter the same question back, out of curiosity, but that would be too awkward and embarrassing.

“So, uhm, when did the mask thing start?”

“What?”, Zacharie looked up to the Batter a bit surprised.

“When did you start wearing the frog mask?”

“Oh, well, elementary school I think. It was for Drama club.”

“You went to drama club?”, Batter asked a little surprised.

“Yea, not for long though. But we had that one play about the toad king, so I had to wear the toad mask.”

“And then it grew on your face.” Zacharie grunted to the unnecessary comment. He didn't like talking about the mask thing and even less did he like it when people made fun of him because of it.

“I'm sorry”, the Batter mumbled, a bit guilt in his voice, “Go on, please.”

“So anyways”, Zacharie continued with a sigh, “I started to wear it because my friends and I thought it was funny but... well... eventually I found out that they were just making fun of me... and said things like I should keep wearing them because like that, they wouldn't have to see, so I just did and... well... eventually it grew a habit.” As he finished and continued to eat his meal the Batter couldn't do more than to stare at him. He didn't quite know what to say or even think.

“Wow that... sucks.”, he managed to stumble eventually. They both continued to eat quietly, not being sure what to say. At one point they decided to turn on the TV but thats it and as they both finished Batter decided that it would be time to leave.


	8. 8

The rest of the week went pretty similar. Batter walked Zacharie to school, he walked him back home and sometimes he would stay over a bit. Zacharie enjoyed it although he wondered why the Batter not once had asked him to visit his place.

Today was monday, which meant that Batter finally could go to school again too. Excitedly Zacharie waited in front of his door for Batter to show up and as soon as he did Zacharie ran up to him.

“Excited?”

“Uhm, I guess...”, the Batter sounded rather tired than excited. They started to walk their regulard school way, Zacharie talking a bit and Batter nodding and answering slowly and tired. Zacharie could hear some people whispering and laughing at them, as they always did, but he ignored them. He grew used to it and as long as they didn't directly talk to him he couldn't care less. He was just happy to be able to spent his schoolday with Batter again. That was until he heard a strange grunt-like noise coming from the other man. He turned around to see the Batter falling right towards him. His vision blackened and he felt a strong pain in his back. For some moments Zacharie could feel himself lying on the hard ground until eventually he decided to open his eyes, that he wasnt even aware he had closed. He could see the Batter lying on top of him, scratching the back of his neck a little awkward.

“God I'm so sorry, I must've tripped...”, the Batter stumbled still a little baffled from the fall. But Zacharie didn't listen to what he said. His mind was focused on the students that now started to gather around them. On their faces were wide grins and Zacharie didn't even have to listen to them to know what they would say.

“Oooh Batter, already taking the next step?”  
“A bit too early for that, isnt it?”  
“Shouldn't you do such naughty things at home?”

After the Batter had gotten himself up, ignoring the mockings completely, he offered Zacharie a hand. But Zacharie didn't even notice it. All he saw and heard were the students around him and their laughs. They seemed to grow louder and louder. He didn't want this. Not that extreme.

As soon as he got himself up he pushed past the Batter and ran away until he found a hidden corner where he crashed down sobbing. Maybe he should just stop seeing the Batter, he thought. If people were laughing at them so much, maybe then that'd be for the better. The thought made him want to cry, but thenagain, so did the situation right now.


	9. 9

Surprised and a bit confused the Batter looked after Zacharie. He thought about if he should follow him, but he decided not to. If the boy ran away like that he probably wanted to be alone for now. Despite of the Batter being alone now, the taunting of the crowd still didn't stop.

“Oh no”, one of them said, “was that step too soon after all.”

Angered the Batter turned around, facing the crowd with a gaze of pure rage which made almost the entire school hold their breath.

“What the fuck actually is your problem!?”, the Batter yelled, not at a single person but the entire crowd, “Do your pathetic stupid lives suck so much that you need to make those of others even worse, so you can feel better about yours?!”

Noone dared to answer him or even say or make any noise at all. With a disgusted grunt Batter left them be and headed into the school building. He could hear the others whisper about him and he was sure that they would just continue laughing at them the next day.

The first two classes felt like ages for the Batter. He didn't listen to what the teachers said. He rarely ever did. As the bell announced that the second class was over Batter almost jumped up cheering. Excitedly he ran to the school breakground, secretly hoping to find Zacharie waiting. Although to his disappointment Zacharie was nowhere to be seen. Worry crawled up his spine like a little uncomforting spider. He knew exactly how excited Zacharie had been to finally spent his breaks with the Batter again. The incident from earlier must have shoken him more than expected.

Worried the Batter looked everywhere for him, hoping that he was still somewhere on the school ground. But even after the break ended he had still not seen him anywhere.

He decided not to attend the next classes. He didn't see a point in it. He didn't see a point in staying in school any longer at all. So he went off. Off the school building into a random direction. He didn't feel like going home.

He walked through the streets for what felt like hours and probably were and eventually his head started to hurt. He knew that pain. It wasn't quite like a headache more like a migraine but still different. His vision got a bit blurry until he could see white specks or spots that slowly turned out to be some kind of ghost like creatures surrounding him. They laughed at him, mocked him, attacked him. With every move the ghosts did he could feel a horrifying pain in his body.

“Stop...!”, he wailed, trying to take his bat and punching them, but nothing happened. Nothing ever happened. He's had those... hallucinations for years now. He didn't know why or how to stop them.

Eventually he just sank down trying to concentrate on surviving the pain. And fortunately he did.

Several hours later he heaved himself up and made sure that the 'ghosts' had finally left him alone.

He walked back to school. He wanted to see Zacharie. No, he _had_ to. He wasn't sure why but in his presence the Batter felt safer, safe from the ghosts. In fact he almost seemed to forget them completely when he was with Zacharie. And for the first time this day destiny decided to do the Batter a little favor.   
School had just ended and he could see Zacharie coming out the school building.

“Where have you been?”, the Batter asked sounding a bit upset. Zacharie just shrugged his shoulders. He obviously didn't want to talk about that and Batter was not the one pushing him to.

As usual they started to walk home together, only this time Zacharie wasn't as chatty as usual. In fact it didn't take him too long until Zacharie had stopped him.

“I kind of... don't want to see you for a while...”, he stumbled. Batter couldn't believe what Zacharie just said. He didn't know what to reply. He just stared at him blankly. Why would he say that? He couldn't think of an answer so he rather tried to think of a reason for Zacharie not to avoid him.

“W- What about Dedan?”, he began, Zacharie shrugged. “What if he'll pick on you again and beats you up?” Again, only shrugs.

“Will you wear the mask again? People will laugh at you and-”, he listed a lot more things but Zacharies answers kept the same. Simple shrugs. The Batter didn't want to be alone. He didn't want to go to school alone, to spent his breaks alone and go home alone to eventually get creeped up by ghosts.

After Zacharie only shrugged to countless of his arguments the Batter gave up. He had to tell him. And so he did. Whispered through his breath. Ofcourse Zacharie couldn't understand a word so he repeated them two, three, even four times until eventually his feelings caught up with him and he literally screamed into Zacharies face. “I DONT WANT YOU TO LEAVE ME, OKAY!?”

He could see Zacharies face flushing red and his own blood started to rush up his face.  
“I- I-”, he started to stutter but he got interrupted by the sudden pressure of Zacharies lips against his.


	10. 10

Batters lips felt so soft. They felt so good on his. Zacharie wished that this feeling would never end, that they could kiss forever, but in a sudden, he panicked.

Quickly he stopped and took, or more likely fell, a step back. He could feel his face flushing red so almost like a reflex he covered it up with his hands.

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I-”, he continued to stammer all kinds of apologies. He felt so embarrassed. He could clearly hear people around them laughing so it wasn't even just the Batter he embarrassed himself to.

“I don't know why I did this, I'm so sorry!” He lied. He knew why he did it obviously. He wouldn't just go around and kiss people for no reason. Ofcourse he was confused but what was sure was that he has had a huge crush on the Batter ever since they first met, even though it seemed so absurd back then, he was sure about it now.

“I'm so sorry!”, Zacharie continued to whine through his breath. He knew now that avoiding the Batter was a stupid idea but he feared that that was what the Batter now wanted to do.

He stopped whining as he could suddenly feel Batters hands on his shoulders.

“It's fine, Jesus, stop apologizing.”, the Batter hissed almost sounding angry but definitely trying his best not to upset Zacharie. Zacharie could see that he felt uncomfortable and embarrassed and as Zacharie noticed how many people now were staring at them he did too.

“W-We should probably go-”, before Zacharie could even finish he saw the Batter nodding, taking him by the wrist and starting to walk their mutual way home, almost pulling Zacharie with him. But he didn't really mind. He also didn't mind that their walk was quite a quiet one. In fact, if Zacharie would have tried to say anything he would have probably ended u apologizing again.

The quiet was unbothered, at least until Zacharie could hear the Batter mumbling something through his breath. He couldn't quite understand what he said but it sounded like an apology followed by the Batter letting go of Zacharies wrist. But instead of just taking his hand away he moved it to Zacharies hand, softly taking it and looked away embarrassed.

“W-Wait, does that-”, Zacharie began but got stopped by the Batter.

“Let's... talk about this later. At my place.”

Zacharie nodded. He had never been to Batters place before but he remembered that he lived alone and that was for Zacharie just right. He was everything but in the mood to handle parents right now, let alone Sugar, who had probably even already heard of Zacharies... incident with the Batter.

Not much later the two of them arrived at Batters place. It was a small apartment with only a few rooms but it looked nice. A bit messy maybe. Quite messy actually. But he didn't mind at all. It wasn't his own place anyways.

Batter lead the other to his living room and they both sat down on a small old couch. For a while neither of them said a word.

“So...”

“I'm sorry!”, Zacharie whined through Batters words, “I shouldn't have done this. In public, just like that!” He could hear the Batter laughing faintly.

“It's fine.”, he said.

Another awkward silence followed, up until the Batter spoke again.

“W-What did it mean? The kiss...?”, he asked.

A bit baffled Zacharie stared at him, not sure how to answer. He could see the Batter scratching the back of his head awkwardly before he continued to talk.

“Do you... have, like, these kinds of feelings? For me?”

This time Zacharie nodded. He was quite sure of what he felt for the Batter now and ever since he had held his hand he hoped for the Batter to feel the same.

“Do you...?”, Zacharie asked him back, his eyes almost sparkling in hope but also fear.

He could see the Batter gulp.

“I-I don't know...”, the Batter began with a shaky voice, “This is all so strange and new to me...”

It felt like something just had crushed Zacharie. He nodded blankly, trying not to show how hurt he actually was. It wasn't the Batters fault and Zacharie didn't want to upset him.

“M-Maybe we should just forget-” - “No!”, the Batter interrupted him, “No. No we shouldn't just forget it. That's not just nothing!”

“B-But you said you don't-”

The Batter let out a deep sigh.  
“I said I am confused. Listen, I... never had a girlfriend. Let alone a _boyfriend._ ”  
“Me neither!”, Zacharie said, hope flaring up in him again, “There's a first time for everything! We could try it together! I mean- if you want ofcourse...” Every word he said sounded so strange and embarrassing suddenly. He was scared of the answer as he could see the Batter giving it a second thought. But all the fear got washed away as he watched the Batter giving him a short nod followed by a little smile.

“Fine”, he said with a shaky voice, “Yea... Yea! We're gonna give it a try! We- But- I don't want everyone to know about... this... I don't want them to have that kind of victory.”

For a moment Zacharies heart dropped a little. But then he nodded, smiling widely.

“So it's like our secret. A forbidden romance!” He could see the Batter growing red a little.

“Don't say it like that, that's embarrasing!”, he hissed gaining a small chuckle from Zacharie.

Quickly the smaller man crawled up to the Batter on the couch and stopped, his face close to the others.

“Can I... can I kiss you then...?”, Zacharie whispered a little awkwardly.

The Batters face flushed deep but he nodded.

Excitedly Zacharie smiled and pushed his lips on the Batters, his upper lip slipping between those of Batter.

“I'm happy.”, Zacharie murmured throwing his arms around Batters neck, “This feels right.”


	11. 11

“We could go to the city today.”, Zacharie suggested as he left the school building with the Batter. It was Friday so they wouldn't have school the next day. Shortly Batter nodded.  
“So it's a date!”  
This time the Batter didn't answer, he just glanced around embarrassed. The two of them had been dating for two weeks now. They haven't really come out to anyone yet, but it was pretty obvious that everyone already knew.  
Together the two lovebirds headed towards the city. Zacharie would have loved to take Batters hand and softly hold it, but he knew that the Batter wouldn't like that, at least not with all the other students around. So instead he decided it would be better to wait with that until they were further away from the school building.  
“I know a good restaurant we could go to maybe.”, the Batter murmured a little absent in thoughts.  
“Oh so you're taking me out?” With a wide grin Zacharie watched the Batter blushing red.  
“I-I didn't say I would pay for you!”, he said, sounding a little like a little boy who's pride just got hurt. Smiling Zacharie giggled a bit.  
“Wow, what kind of a boyfriend are you?”, he teased him while pouting.  
He watched the Batter burying his hands in the pockets of his pants groaning.  
“Fine.”  
“Woa, really!?”, Zacharie replied in surprise. Excitedly he pulled Batters hand out of his pockets and buried his own hand in Batters. As he looked up to the Batter he caught him looking at Zacharie aswell, smiling. Zacharie moved a little closer and gave him a quick kiss, then leaned his head on Batters arm happily, ignoring the glares of the strangers they were passing.  
Eventually the Batter stopped, showing Zacharie the restaurant. It was a Thai restaurant and the smell coming out of it made his mouth water. The food was just as great and a few hours later they were well fed and on their way back home. They used a different way back than the one they came from. It was a little longer but definitely more beautiful with more residential buildings and especially gardens, rather than simply shops and streets everywhere.  
They came from the opposite direction as they would come from their way home from school, leading them to pass by Batters home first rather than Zacharies. Before Zacharie could say any goodbyes or anything else really he could hear the Batter offering him in.  
“Do you want to stay over a bit maybe...?”, he still sounded kind of shy and awkward, it was adorable.  
Zacharie nodded a little surprised since the Batter rarely ever asked him to come over.  
“I should probably tell my mom I'm coming later though.”  
“Or”, he could hear the Batter stammer carefully, “you could tell your mom you're staying for the night... if that's fine with you.”  
Zacharie couldn't possibly say no to that. He'd love to sleep over at Batters place. So simply he nodded with a bright smile and started to call his mom while following the Batter into his apartment.  
By the time they had arrived in Batters living room Zacharie hang up and put his phone back into his bag. A sudden realization hit him for a moment and he looked up to the Batter confused.  
“Where am I going to sleep though?”  
Zacharie watched the Batter awkwardly scratching the back of his head and with the other hand pointing into his bedroom that was just around the corner.  
“I, uhm, thought maybe we could like share my bed, I mean, if you're fine with that...”  
Zacharie could clearly see that this was utterly embarrassing for the Batter but he couldn't help him but to chuckle a bit. He leaned closer to his boyfriend wrapping his arms around Batters neck and burying his face into Batters chest so he could breath in his smell.  
“I would love that!”, he murmured into Batters shirt.  
He could feel the Batter placing his his hands on Zacharies waist. A little surprised Zacharie looked up to see the Batter blushing deep red. Noticing how cute he looked when blushing made Zacharie giggle softly. He stood up on his toes, pulling the Batter into a sweet loving kiss. He could feel the Batter had not expected that, gasping softly in surprise, but he didn't seem to complain and instead replied the kiss, making it end up a lot longer and more intense than Zacharie had first planned.  
This time it was Zacharie taken by surprise and he put that to show with a soft moan, almost like whimper.   
His arms still around Batters neck, he moved one of his hands, carelessly threw off Batters baseball cap to bury his fingers into Batters soft blond hair. For a moment Zacharie panicked he had crossed some kind of border as the taller man suddenly pulled off the kiss. He had never seen the Batter without his cap. If it was as important to him as the mask had been to Zacharie, recklessly throwing it off might've been a horrible mistake. That fear got washed away a moment later as he suddenly felt Batters lips sucking on his neck. Surprised Zacharie threw his head back, letting out another sweet moan.  
Heavily breathing he stopped the Batter who looked a little disappointed, but quick enough Zacharie pulled off the Batters shirt, throwing it to the ground next to the cap, his own shirt following shortly after.  
For a moment Zacharie stopped, mustering his boyfriends upper body, for this was the first time he would see him shirtless. He was way more tanned and muscular, obviously, since Batter played Baseball every day while the most sports related thing Zacharie did was watching Batter play Baseball every day.  
He wanted to lean unto the Batter, feeling their bare skin touching, but before he could he saw the Batter glancing away, looking everything but excited, and suddenly Zacharie stopped worried.  
“A-Ah, I'm sorry...!”, he stuttered, he wanted to hit himself and disappear in a hole right now. He couldn't just take Batters fucking shirt off what was he thinking.  
“N-No! It's fine! I'm fine!”, the Batter replied with a shaky voice but Zacharie didn't believe him at all.  
“Are you sure...? We don't have to... you know...”, he mumbled, trying to get the truth out of the Batter an apparently it worked.  
He watched the Batter sinking down to the ground, leaning against the wall and sitting there.  
“I-I'm so sorry Zacharie...”, he mumbled under his breath.  
Worried Zacharie kneed down in front of the Batter, trying to comfort him somehow.  
“No it's completely fine, I'm sorry.”  
He wasn't sure what was going on in Batters head right now but it must be really bad because Zacharie had never seen the Batter this down before. He moved to sit on the ground next to the Batter, leaning against him, and for a while they just sat there, not talking, not saying a word.  
Zacharie kept wanting to apologize, for wherever he crossed the line, but he was also too scared to break the quiet. Maybe this simply was what the Batter needed right now, so he kept quiet until the Batter himself decided to say something.  
“I'm... sorry...”, he whispered, barely loud enough for Zacharie to hear, “It's just... I... had very bad... experiences...?”  
Zacharie didn't know what to say. He never would've guessed and he still could'nt quite make out what the Batter meant with 'bad experiences'.  
“I-I'm so sorry. I- what- what happened?”, he asked carefully.  
“My mother, she- she used to- … ugh I'm sorry I- I don't really want to talk about it.”, he stammered, he sounded tired or exhausted maybe.  
“No. No! It's fine, I'm- I'm so sorry I brought it up.”  
The Batter gave him a small exhausted nod.  
“May- Maybe we should, uhm, go to sleep... It's pretty late already anyways.”, Zacharie suggested and helped the Batter up as he agreed.  
They both changed out of their clothes and into some sorts of pajamas then lied into Batters bed.   
It was a bit small for two people, but Zacharie didn't mind. He cuddled himself close to the Batter, who also seemed better by now, and soon the two of them fell asleep.


	12. 12

Sun beams woke Zacharie out of his sleep. Who even left the blinds open, Jesus Christ.

Tiredly yawning he opened his eyes, slowly looking around, slowly realizing that he was not in his bed, not in his room and not in his house even.

It took him some moments to remember where he was and why but as he did he slowly moved his head to the left seeing that there at least was his boyfriend.

Zacharie smiled, he considered waking him up with a smooch but thenagain he didn't know at what time the Batter usually woke up and he didn't want him do end up as a pissed off half dead corpse.

So instead Zacharie just decided to stay quiet. For some moments he watched him, he watched how his chest moved up and down while breathing, how he started to move and turn when Zacharie accidentally touched him or made a noise, but after some minutes he watched the Batter opening his eyes and looking back at Zacharie tired.

For a moment Zacharie blushed in surprise of having gotten caught staring at the Batter sleeping but that seemed to be the least of Batters concerns.

“Hnngh why... why are you awake...?”, he groaned closing his eyes again.

“Oh- I'm sorry! Did I wake you up?”, Zacharie asked a little worried. He wasn't sure what he did.

“Y..yes... turn the fucking light off.”

“The light? Oh. That's the sun, dear.”  
“What the FUCK does it want.”, he huffed still tired and kinda angry but obviously not being serious.

“I don't know, I suppose it wants to see your beautiful gay face.”, Zacharie replied chuckling, giving his boyfriend a small smooch on the cheeks.

“...don't call me gay...”, Batter growled silently, “that's so gay... _you're_ gay.”

Slowly Zacharie got up, out of the bed, giggling a little.  
“Eitherways, I'm going to take a shower if that's fine with you.”, he hummed.

“It's gross in what a good mood you are...”, Batter mumbled, yawning halfways, “but yea go ahead. The bathroom's right around the corner.”

Zacharie smiled back at him nodding and made his way out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.

The bathroom was small. A sink, a toilet, no bathtub, only a small shower. But it was fine.

After taking a shower Zacharie noticed that he didn't have any fresh clothes around, ofcourse not, this wasn't his bathroom after all.

Unfortunately his old clothes also where still somewhere in the living room or the bedroom.

He couldn't just walk around naked, could he?

A little befuddled Zacharie looked around the bathroom to find some kind of solution. He spotted a bag of fresh clothing of the Batter lying in the corner of a bathroom. It were the same black shirts and white-black striped tees over and over again. Now that Zacharie thought about it, he never saw the Batter wearing anything else.

A little off thought he kneeled down and took one of the shirts, hugging it close and soaking in its smell. It smelled strongly like fresh washed clothes obviously but somehow the sweet smell of the Batter was still a lot more persistent.

For a moment Zacharie kneeled there like this but then got back to the main problem: He was still naked.

Should he... No, _could_ he just take on some of Batters clothes?

Boy this was an awkward situation. Could he just take on his boyfriends clothes? Should he _ask_? How does someone even ask that? Should he just walk out naked?

Very carefully he took on one of Batters shirts on. It was a bit too big for him, especially the sleeves but felt cozy and warm. He was still kind of anxious of Batters reaction to this though.

Nevertheless there was no going back now. There was but whatever.

He also took on one of Batters pants which was even more awkward but he had to wear _something_.

Cautiously Zacharie peeked out of the bathroom door looking around trying to spot the Batter to surprisingly find the Batter standing some feet in front of the door staring at Zacharie.

“I-I--”, Zacharie started kind of flustered, “I'm sorry my-- my clothes were in the other room and--”

He got interrupted by the Batter chuckling a little and immediately Zacharie sighed in relief, smiling and eventually joining in with Batters laugh.

“Ya look quite cute.”, the Batter said softly running a hand over Zacharies cheek and still sounding amused, “Anyways, I think I'm going to take a shower aswell. There's cereal in the kitchen if you're hungry. I'm sorry I-- don't have a lot more...”  
Smiling Zacharie shrugged.  
“Cereal is just fine!”, he said and watched the Batter leaving into the bathroom.

The kitchen was on the other side of the living room. Compared to the rest of the apartment it was rather big. Still not that big, but bigger than the rest. Now that Zacharie thought of it he wondered how the Batter even payed his rent. Shouldn't he have a part-time job or something like that? He never saw the Batter work, or doing anything else than wasting time with him in general. He should ask him about that later. But not now.

Curiously he searched through the cupboards for a bowl and some cereal. Maybe even milk. Well, the milk would probably be in the fridge. Oh god please be in the fridge, milk.

After some searching he found the bowls and the cereals and, thank god, the milk was in the fridge.

As he poured the Cap'n Crunch cereals and milk in his bowl he first realized how hungry he actually was and started to shovel them into his mouth.

He stopped and looked up as he saw the Batter coming out of the bathroom.

“I see you're eating Commander Crunch.”  
“ _Commander_ Crunch!?”, Zacharie said, almost spitting out the cereal in his mouth, “It's _Captain_ Crunch, can't you read?”  
“No man, did you ever look at his uniform?”, Batter replied shaking his head.

“Do you think I know what the uniforms look like!?”  
“Well, I do, and he's wearing a Commanders uniform.”

There was a short moment of silence, up until Zacharie had to ask one more important question.

“Well, then why does it say Cap'n Crunch?”

“I-- I don't know.”, the Batter answered a little unsure, “Maybe it's... his name...?”  
“Commander Cap'n Crunch?”, Zacharie laughed.

“Sure why not.”

The Batter got himself an own bowl of cereal and together they ate their breakfast.

“Hey, uhm, Zach?”, the Batter began once they finished eating, “L-Last night was kind of a letdown, so... maybe-- I mean-- you could maybe stay for the weekend...?”

Zacharie chuckled a bit. He had never heard the Batter calling him Zach. His mother sometimes did though that was different.

“Sure, I'd love to! I should tell my mom though and-- and get some clothes.”, he said excitedly. Before either of them could say anything more the buzzing of Zacharies phone distracted them. Quickly he grabbed it from his bag that was lying somewhere on the floor and checked it.

“In fact I should be getting my stuff soon.”, he added.

“What, why? Did your mom honestly just write you to come home, it's like, I dunno, 9 am?”

“We have 14 pm.”

There was a short moment of silence. Then a long groan from the Batter.

“I usually don't sleep that long, I swear.”, he groaned but Zacharie just had to laugh.

“Don't worry about it, I sleep long too.”

“Well, but _I don't_.”

“Sure you don't.”, Zacharie teased, “Anyways, I really should get them. Maybe we could go somewhere after that?”

“Like where?”, Batter asked while bringing away the bowls and putting them into the sink.

“I don't know, the park?” He could see the Batter shrug his shoulders and nod.

“Sure why not.”

Once Zacharie got his backpack and old clothes the two of them made their way to Zacharies home. It wasn't far, only a few blocks. They probably didn't even walk for more than 5 minutes.

A little off thought Zacharie instinctively rang the doorbell. Seconds later he remembered he had the keys but now he could also wait for someone to open the door. He soon had to regret that decision.

The one to open the door, ofcourse, had to be his sister Sugar. She stared at Zacharie, mustering him from head to toe until she glanced at the Batter with a wide grin on her face.

Zacharie glanced to him too, noticing how he was trying to hide his face in the shade of his cap. At first he wasn't sure what was going on in their heads, until he remembered hat he was still wearing Batters clothes. His face grew red, hectically he pushed past Sugar, not even saying a word and ran upstairs into his room. Quickly he closed the door, lied down on his bed and sighed. Boy this was bad. He was almost too scared to go back down again. What would Sugar say? He didn't want to find out.

Batter didn't seem to have followed him, now he felt rude for just leaving. But he was probably waiting outside.

Quickly Zacharie packed some new clothes into his back, he recharged his phone and took his charger with him too, then went back downstairs.  
Before he went to the exit he made a quick turn into the kitchen where his mother was sitting. She barely looked at him before she started to talk.

“You look cute in his clothes.”, she snickered. God not her too.

“C-Can I take some snacks with me?”, Zacharie asked, trying to block off the clothes subject completely right now.

“Sure honey, I bought some crackers just yesterday.”

He reached into the cupboard where the Zakovski Family was storing their snacks and filled the rest of the free space in his bag with crackers and other snacks.

“I'm gonna stay the weekend with Batter, is that okay?”, he asked and his mother dismissed him with a nod.

Taking a deep breath he walked towards the exit door, Sugar was there and so was Batter. It looked like they were talking.

“C-Can we go...?”, Zacharie asked the Batter, trying to avoid any conversation with Sugar. Unfortunately she didn't play that game.

“Not so fast, missy.”, before he could leave he could feel her hand on his shoulder and like the kind of pushover he was, he let himself get pulled back in, “You got a good one. I'm almost jealous.”

Embarrassed about the fact that literally everyone in his family knew what was going on he shook off Sugars hand.

“W-Whatever, I'm leaving now.”, he muttered under his breath. All he wanted was to leave as fast as possible. And he finally did.

Closing the door behind him he looked up to the Batter, smiling but it looked kind of forced. He felt kind of bad, the Batter had just seemed to be bystanding on this whole scene, it must've felt rather awkward. He would have apologized but for now he just wanted to leave that whole situation behind him and move on.

“So, we're going to the park?”, he asked with some fresh enthusiasm in his voice.

“...Sure!”, Batter answered after a short pause.


	13. 13

They went to the closest park they could think of. It was distanced from downtown but quite a few people went there, unfortunately especially students of their school since it was also the closest park of the school and had an area to play sports like basketball or soccer or both at the same time which would end in a mess though so nobody probably did that.

It also had a small playground with a sandpit, a slide, some swings and other little attractions but if Zacharie would ever have children ever he definitely wouldn't let them play here, since the students of his school liked to hang out there more than other children did and the ground often covered in glass and broken bottles and glass of broken bottles.

There was also a part of the park though that the students most likely didn't mess with because it was basically just a boring patch of grass with a small pool of water that balls could fall into.

There were no benches safe from the sun and the sun was pretty hot on this day so the young couple was damned to sit on the soft grass, what a nightmare.

There were some trees around, tiny birds hopping on the grounds, from the distance Zacharie could hear people playing ball.

After taking in the scenery for some minutes Zacharie grabbed for his backpack to take out the snacks he brought with him. The Batter seemed surprised.

“When did you pack those?”, he asked eyeing the snackaries. There were some crackers, a few Snickers and a bag of sour cream and onion chips.

“Oh! I snatched them when I was getting my stuff. Do you want something?”

He could see the Batter staring at his snickers. But he shook his head.

“No thanks, they're yours.”, he muttered, trying to sound disinterested but Zacharie knew he wanted his snickers.

“You know, I don't mind sharing.”, Zacharie hummed back, “Sharing is caring afterall.”

“Hah, what?”, he heard the Batter laugh, “You care about me or something?”

Zacharie shrugged, making a short agreeing grunt.

“I mean, I guess.”, he said trying to sound not really convinced, “We're kind of dating so that's kinda in the job description, right?”

“Yea, it's a real turn-off, I'm thinking of quitting my job actually.”

There was a short moment of silence. The Batter sounded awfully serious and for a moment Zacharie feared he actually _meant_ it serious. But that was just the way Batter was like, right? Always seeming serious?  
“Don't you fucking dare do that!”, he eventually just shouted, almost pouncing at the Batter, pushing him into the grass so Zacharie was kneeling on top of him.

To his surprise the Batter pushed himself up, kissing Zacharie on the mouth with a sly grin.

“I would never.”, he whispered under his breath, only loud enough for Zacharie to understand, although barely anyone else was there anyways. But those who were started staring at the two, which impressed Zacharie. Not that people were staring at him but that even though they were, the Batter didn't mind showing his affection to Zacharie.

“So... do you want a Snickers now?”, Zacharie asked eventually breaking the little silence they had.

“Who said anything about Snickers?”, the Batter asked a little surprised as if Zacharie just found out his dark little secret, “But yes... if you _insist_ , I take one.”

Sitting himself up straight again the Batter grabbed himself one of the with chocolate coated candy bars, enjoying it with utterly hurt pride.

With a victorious smile Zacharie got himself the Sour Cream and Onion chips and started feasting upon them. Sweets were great and all but nothing topped some good salty chips.

“Was there a reason why you wanted to go to the park with me...?”, the Batter asked after taking his third Snickers, at least that's what Zacharie made out by the pieces of crumbled up Snickers paper lying next to him. He didn't actually see the Batter ever taking a second Snickers.

“Nah.”, he replied shrugging and leaning back a bit, supporting his weight with his arms, “I just like it here. It's so quiet and empty and there are animals.”, he continued over the screams of soccer or basketball playing students a little farther away, past the groups of people and the maybe five birds hopping around.

The Batter laughed a little about that but he mumbled something in agreement.

“It's nice here.”, he said, letting himself fall into the grass, lying on his back and almost immediately Zacharie did the same, lying down next to him. He wanted to ask the Batter if they could maybe spoon but that would be _too_ much to do in public like that, so instead he just enjoyed the moment like that, searching for the Batters hand to play with his fingers a bit.

They were lying around like this for a little while, and honestly, the next thing Zacharie remembered was the Batter nudging him in the shoulder. He groaned in disapproval before he opened his eyes, realizing that he must have fallen asleep. Embarrassed he glanced over to the Batter who seemed to have a hard time trying not to laugh.   
“O-Oh god I'm sorry!”, Zacharie whined, his face blushed red.

“Honey, it's fine!”, the Batter hummed, cracking a smile, “You looked cute asleep.”

_Honey?_

“How long was I asleep...?”, Zacharie groaned, stretching himself a little. Checking his surroundings he noticed that the noises of the students playing ball had disappeared and the sky had already turned into a dark red.

“Quite some time, a few hours. I must admit, I dozed off too at some point though.”, he cackled.

Usually Zacharie would've gotten really worried. It was dangerous to just fall asleep in public. Did anyone steal his stuff, his mobile? But honestly none of those thoughts occurred to Zacharie right now. He just glanced at the Batter smiling widely.   
“I wish I could've seen you asleep.”, he chuckled, “But at least I woke up early enough to watch the sunset with you.”

He moved a little closer to the Batter who was still sitting in the grass, taking his hand and leaning his head on the Batters shoulder.

“The sun is already gone, idiot.” He was right. The sun had actually already disappeared, all that was left was the dark red, actually by now purple coloring in the sky and the rest of it already had turned into a dark blue to black, the first stars popping up. It was a cloudless night.

“Well then we can watch the stars, right?”, he smiled, looking up to the point where his neck hurt so he eventually just let himself fall back down on the grass, recklessly pulling the Batter with him.

Only a few minutes later more stars started to show up and the sky actually turned completely dark. It might not have even been legal for them to be out at this time, or at least not safe but who cared honestly. It's not like someone would just suddenly show up and slaughter them, right?  
That's not that kind of fanfiction, right?

We'll see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went a bit overboard at the end there but else--


End file.
